In Ende's Never Ending Story, the theme is that the "never ending story" is our story. What we refer to as the Bible is also supposed to be OUR book. To this I would add the Tao Te Ching; the Rig Veda, the Upanishads and Native American legends and myths. These books and verbal stories are all OUR stories. This Earth and YOUR being is the enactment of these Stories. (Indeed, physics has just recently caught up to the myths as reflected in writings like Capra's Tao of Physics. http://www.thinkingallowed.com/4fcapra.html)
I don't care if you believe or disbelieve. You are participating in the Never Ending Story. Your belief and disbelief is simply a part that you take in the Play.
The Never Ending Story is all stories. As I meditate on our lives on Earth in relationship to the Never Ending Story, I also think about the book and movie The Wizard of Oz.
The Wizard speaks to the Never Ending Story. They are the same story, ultimately. We are all Dorothy in Oz. We are also Bastian and the other children who bully him as well as the bookstore owner who introduces Bastian to "The Never Ending Story!"
A little introduction to the Wizard's author:
The Wizard's author, Baum was at once a deeply spiritual person and questioned traditional religion. His formal "home" is with the Theosophist tradition, which is a modern form of Gnosticism (meaning knowledge) that perpetuated many of the Islamic, Christian and Jewish faith traditions in ancient times. http://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-occult-roots-of-the-wizard-of-oz/
I skimmed this article and found it having a message very similar to mine: http://www.reversespins.com/wizardofoz.html
The images in fairy tales are symbols and when we experience these images, we are also directly experiencing the inner parts of ourselves that are clothed in the images. Jung called these symbols, primordial archetypes. Jung also describes archetypes as blueprints or predispositions that we are all born with and also the fact that they have a dynamic aspect. His theory is that in order to be healthy, we must keep the conscious and the unconscious in dynamic balance.
Joseph Campbell further supported this notion by describing the task at hand as 'our adequacy as individuals to relate to the wealth of images and meanings in a creative and life-enhancing way.' Our goal then is to bring the many parts of us into the one main story that we are living today. Our myths are alive and dynamic! So the road to Oz is the road to Self-knowledge.
Baum was also very against the elimination of the gold standard. His "follow the yellow brick road" is his criticism regarding the banking arena during the early part of last century. (http://www.thegoldstandardnow.org/key-blogs/483-the-wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard) Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz
I DO NOT negate that theory or interpretation. In myth, you don't necessarily have an "either -- or" interpretation. That is the beauty of myth for someone like me. For others, I realize metaphor is an epistemological nightmare because it can speak to several arenas through one story.
"E Pluribus Unim" is a lie in this age of standardized corporatization. It really should be removed. If we are to have a slogan, then perhaps we should live up to it? Otherwise, the slogan should read, "thou shalt fall to thy knees upon sight of the Koch Brothers."
In sacred, metaphorical writings, every word can take you deeper and deeper into various layers of meaning. It never was meant to have one meaning for all people at all times.
Reading is a quest! And, what is a quest if not the noun form of the verb to question? (For those interested, you may wish to view my article regarding verb-based language). Myth is not meant for you to passively accept. It is meant for you to see yourself in the Story (i.e., The Bible that is beyond the Judea-Christian-Muslim book, which includes stories like The Wizard of Oz. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Can-a-Verb-Based-Language-by-Burl-Hall-Corporations_God_Language_Love-150404-907.html
Interestingly, one Hebrew Kabbalist stated the Bible had layers upon layers of meaning. I give a "thumbs up" to that interpretation. It's not necessarily clean to the rationalized and standardized mind (i.e., robots of the system). BUT, it does allow for a lot of diversity inherent in a unified message.
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